Our History

Congregation Beth Israel was formed in 1976, in Hammond, Indiana, the result of a merger between Beth El (Gary) and Kenesseth Israel (Hammond). Several years later, CBI welcomed Beth Shalom (East Chicago) into its congregation family. In the three decades that followed, CBI grew into sucessful congregation under the leadership of Rabbi Raphael Ostrovsky. In 2006, CBI moved into a new building in Munster, Indiana. In 2008, Rabbi Ostrovsky retired, and Rabbi Ben Kramer became the new spiritual leader of CBI. Rabbi Kramer has brought an energy and a passion that has ignited the communtiy and helped unite us in a common vision for creating a thriving Jewish community, both for today and for the future.

Our Values

Our community is build upon the three core Jewish values of Torah (Learning), Avodah (Prayer) and Gemilut Chasadim (Acts of Kindness).

Our Rabbis

Rabbi Ben Kramer has been the rabbi of CBI since 2008. He brings a deep love of Torah rooted in intellectual and spiritual integrity, and a desire to help every  member of the congregation become more meaningfuly engaged in Jewish life. He holds a Master's Degree in Talmud and Rabbinics and Rabbinic Ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he was awarded the Isaac H. Wolfson Memorial Award for Excellence in Scholarship, the Rabbi Max Gelb Memorial Prize in Talmud, and the Professor Louis Ginzberg Prize in Talmud. Rabbi Kramer currently serves on the editorial board of the quarterly academic journal, Conservative Judaism. He is the author of several articles as well as a chapter in the forthcoming book, The Observant Life: The Wisdom of Conservative Judaism for Contemporary Jews. His greatest joy is his family - his wife Lori, who holds an MA in Jewish Education from JTS, and their children, Zalman and Laya. Contact Rabbi Kramer

Rabbi Emeritus Raphael Ostrovsky was born in Jerusalem in 1938 and was raised i n Birmingham, Alabama, where his father served as Cantor for 36 years. He received a Master's Degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1962, and was ordained as a rabbi in 1965. For 11 years, he served two major congregations in New York. In 1976, he became the rabbi of CBI, where he served for 32 years.